Bathinda, February 20
Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, has demanded funds from the Punjab Government for the ongoing construction of the drug de-addiction-cum-treatment centre and also for running the already existing unit at the Bathinda Civil Hospital.

In a letter sent to the government, the BFUHS Vice-Chancellor has demanded Rs 5 crore for the ongoing construction, Rs 14 lakh for civil works, furniture, articles such as computers, ACs and other electronic goods required to run the centre and Rs 96.96 lakh on an annual basis for the recurring expenditure of the de-addiction centre.

For the past one year, announcements were being made about BFUHS taking over the drug de-addiction centre. The employees of the centre, whose salaries are largely dependent on funds that the District Red Cross Society receives from Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, face an uncertain future.

The de-addiction centre also runs the methadone centre of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The state government is in the process to add a 50-bed de-addiction centre-cum-treatment hospital to the existing facility. As per the finalised plan, BFUHS will run both the projects as a single component.

Despite a year of deliberations and claims, the university has not yet taken up this project. With the construction work having already started, the university seeks funds from the Punjab State Cancer and Drug De-Addiction Infrastructure Development Bill.

The centre will start as a teaching and service unit under the administrative control of BFUHS. The paramedical staff of the existing centre will be absorbed as contract employees of the university.

The Secretary, Department of Health, Vinni Mahajan, said the university would run the new unit as a tertiary care centre with all kinds of professional inputs. “The de-addiction centre is not financially viable and the government will provide for the needs of BFUHS. We have funds and they will soon be released,” she said.

factfile In a letter sent to the government, the BFUHS Vice- Chancellor has demanded Rs 5 crore for the ongoing construction Rs 14 lakh has been demanded for civil works, furniture, articles such as computers, ACs and other electronic goods required to run the centre Rs 96.96 lakh sought on an annual basis as recurring expenditure for the de-addiction centre. The state government is in the process of adding a 50-bed de-addiction centre-cum-treatment hospital to the existing facility. As per the finalised plan, BFUHS will run both the projects as a single component. The de-addiction centre also runs the methadone centre of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Bathinda, February 20
Assistant Sub-Inspector Manjit Singh, deployed as Vardhman police post in-charge, has been placed under suspension by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Gill today.

In a press release issued here today, the SSP said he went to attend a programme 'Gallan Chon Gall' on the All India Radio (AIR) where a caller informed him about the delay in action following a complaint regarding the slapping of his son by a security guard at Ganpati Enclave.

The caller, Prof Lalit Mohan, informed the SSP about the shoddy way in which the complainants are treated at the police posts and police stations. The complainant said despite making repeated rounds of the police post for over a month, the in-charge failed to take action.

The eight-year-old son of Prof Lalit was slapped by a security guard deployed at Ganpati Enclave at the behest of a senior functionary of the private colony. The child was playing on the stairs of the apartment and was reportedly making noise. The child's father complained that the slap by the guard left an indelible scar on the mind of the child who could not sleep and behave properly. The father alleged that the guard, instead of informing the parents, slapped the child on the fifth floor of the apartment. The child's father told the SSP that had the child fallen down from that height, it could have proved fatal.

During the AIR programme, the child's father said he had sent a letter to the Child Protection Commission. The commission replied within a few days but the police post in-charge refused to entertain the complaint.

The SSP stated that a case had been registered against Balwant Singh, the security guard of Ganpati Enclave. He has been booked under sections 356 (A), 323 and 504 of the IPC and section 23 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. A departmental inquiry has also been ordered against the ASI.

case history The SSP said he went to attend a programme ‘Gallan Chon Gall’ on the All India Radio (AIR) where a caller informed him about the delay in action following a complaint regarding the slapping of his son by a security guard at Ganpati Enclave. The caller, Prof Lalit Mohan, informed the SSP about the shoddy way in which the complainants are treated at the police posts and police stations. The security guard has been booked under sections 356 (A), 323 and 504 of the IPC and section 23 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.

Bathinda, February 20
As the ANMs and ASHA workers are on a strike, the students of nursing colleges, schools and Anganwari workers will hold the second round of national pulse polio campaign from February 23 to February 25.

District Immunisation Officer Dr Rakesh Goyal informed this at a meeting of the District Health Society here today. ADC Rajiv Prashar presided over the meeting.

Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni discussed the health reports. He said while the registration of expecting mothers was 100 per cent, the rate of institutional deliveries was 89 per cent. The deliveries are less in urban areas where the number of auxiliary nursing midwives (ANMs) is less than required.

He highlighted the facility of free diet given to new mothers, hygiene sanitary napkin scheme for 10 to 19-year-old adolescent girls, work of ANM and ASHA workers, facilities given to the patients under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), Jananai Shishu Surkaksha Karyakram (JSSK) and family planning. He said the district had 69 private and three government-run ultrasound centres.

About the School Health Programme, the assistant civil surgeon, Dr K Kundan Pal, said four thalassemic children, 14 cases of RCDCS and one case of cancer, was taken under it.

District Health Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa and District Leprosy Officer Dr Vikas Aggarwal also attended the meeting.

Bathinda, February 20
More and more people are using the Right to Information (RTI) as a tool to bring about change. The Herculean task of obtaining information, however, remains a daunting task with the civil servants delaying submission of information or giving half-baked details.

Interestingly, 30 to 40 per cent of the people who file RTI queries in the Police Department never turn up to receive information and refuse to follow up on their queries.

While 373 queries were received in the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, in 2007, the number increased to 1,412 in 2013. Meanwhile, the Police Department under the SSP received 210 queries in 2007 and 683 applications in 2013.

The sale of Indian Postal Order (IPOs) worth Rs 10, which is mostly used for RTI, has also shot up. Around 34,000 IPOs have been sold in the last two years in Bathinda.

With the number of information seekers on the rise, the officials of the department try to give a vague answer or delay the matter. Officials in the Deputy Commissioner's office, however, regret that the rate of the transfer of RTI applications is quite high.

Query related to departments like Health, Education, Transport, ADC (Development), ADC (General) and Suvidha Centre is pouring in the office of the Deputy Commissioner. The officials point out that the people should approach the Public Information Officer concerned to get their queries addressed and not the DC office.

The government servants said apart from ensuring accountability, the RTI activists and individuals also make numerous personal and family queries.

"The rising rate of transfer of queries to the other departments leads to delay in giving information and also puts an extra burden on the government servants. The queries should be specifically marked to the related Public Information Officer of the department from where an answer has been sought and the questionnaire must be very specific," he said.

"People are under the impression that if they have to seek an answer from the District Education Officer (DEO), District Transport Officer (DTO) or Senior Medical Officer (SMO), then they should approach the Deputy Commissioner. This approach is wrong and they must approach the PIOs of the respective departments," he said.

Likewise, if one has to seek a query from the Director, Health Services, then one need not to send his query to the office of the Chief Minister or the Governor of Punjab but the PIO of the Health Department.

"The tool comes in handy when it is related to delay in making a driving licence, booking an LPG cylinder, in taking action against any official or to enquire about the marital status of government servants working in the DC office," said a senior official, pleading anonymity.

Officials said to evade answering an RTI query, the government servants manage to persuade the information seeker to get the pending work done or rope in an acquaintance to get rid of the RTI queries.

Manwinder Sekhon, who frequently exercises the RTI option, said the response to an RTI query in government departments, especially the civil administration, has improved to a great extent.

"Unlike the Police Department, the offices under the Deputy Commissioner are becoming more transparent. It also depends upon the kind of queries made," Sekhon said.

Another RTI user Pardeep Kumar said if a query is directed at an individual, then it takes time and officials try to evade it. But if it is for a common cause, then the information is accessed easily.

"But there is still a long way to go as the queries drafted are not up to the mark and people are not sending their RTI applications directly to the Public Information Officers designated to entertain queries under the RTI," said a senior superintendent rank official.

There is hardly any government or private institution which is not covered under the RTI. All one needs to do is a little homework before sending the query.

"There is no way of rejecting an RTI application if the query is specific. Initially, one may feel frustrated after not getting the information on time, but if one keeps nagging the authorities, they are bound to release the information," said Sukhdarshan Singh. He said persistent follow-up of the queries is required and it is still a Herculean task for a person to obtain information in a hurry.

Bathinda, February 20
The Computer Teachers' Union (CTU) will hold a state-level rally on February 23 and have decided to gherao the Chief Minister over their long pending demands. Around 7,000 computer teachers in the state are demanding their inclusion in the Education Department.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the CTU held here today. In a press statement, the CTU spokesperson stated that on February 17 a meeting of the union was held at the Secretariat Punjab in Chandigarh wherein Principal Secretary SK Sandhu, Education Secretary Anjali Bhawra and Mandeep Singh Sandhu were present.

The government constituted committee had refused to accept any demand of the computer teachers. Instead of bringing the computer teachers under the ambit of Civil Services Rules (CSR), the department was trying to frame new rules and had refused to give any benefit of the CSR.

Computer teachers have rejected this proposal and decided to hold a state-level protest on February 23 and gherao the CM Punjab. They threatened that if their demands were not accepted, they would go on mass casual leave. They also threatened to vote against the SAD-BJP government in the Lok Sabha elections.

They said despite being regularised, the computer teachers were not provided with basic facilities which were given to other regular teachers of the state.

Already members of the union are on chain hunger strike in front of the office of the Director General of School Education (DGSE) since February 10.

Prominent among others present at the meeting were Balkaran Singh, Sandeep Bajaj, Sukhdev Singh Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Yogesh Chauhan, Gursharan Bhagta, Mandeep, Bharat Bhushan, Balvir Singh, Harcharan, Harjinder, Jagwant, Monika, Jaswinder, Paramvir, Kulwant, Kulvir, Rajandeep, Ashu, Iqbal, Meenu, Monika, Jyoti, Pratibha and Gurvinder Kaur.

Bathinda, February 20
The police today claimed to have arrested four persons for snatching and other incidents. SSP Gurpreet Bhullar, in a press release issued here, said Jaspartap Singh, a BTech student of PTU Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology, lodged a complaint about the snatching of his mobile phone near Mittal Mall.

Bhullar said a team comprising SP (D) Swaran Khanna, DSP Ranjit Singh and SI Jagdish Sharma was formed to look into the complaints of the mobile snatching, which were reported from other parts of the city as well.

Working on various theories, the police arrived at the conclusion that Balkaran Singh of Har-Raipur village was involved in the incident and was rounded up and interrogated. The police recovered five mobile phones from his possession.

The accused admitted his involvement in the crime along with Bikramjit Singh of Kotkapura and Rahul of Amritsar, presently residing at Bangi Nagar, Bathinda, while efforts were on to nab the other accused in the case. Balkaran, however, admitted snatching mobile phones from people near Mittal Mall, Hanuman Chowk, Mall Road, Railway Station and Bank Bazar. They used Rahul's Splendor motorcycle in the crime.

The SSP further said in another similar incident, Prince Kumar of Rampura Phul complained that 45 mobile phones were stolen from his shop.

The district police chief said a team was formed to crack the cases and Gurpreet Singh Laddi, Kishan Singh of Rampura, Kamaldeep Singh Nannu were nabbed. During interrogation the accused admitted to steal 34 mobile phones, one laptop and an LPG cylinder. The police recovered the stolen goods worth Rs 1.30 lakh from their possession.

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